In western Europe from the late 19th century torture largely
died out as a police and judicial method of extracting confessions.
In Britain it largely died out after the 17th century. The British
standard became the model for imitation throughout the civilized
world. However, it never died out completely. It re-entered from
the colonial world and from Russia.

The classic 20th century dictatorships revived torture as
a routine means of political terrorism and it has become the
rule in all dictatorships, and even in some countries with some
electoral processes.

In the 1930s torture spread from the communist regimes to
the similar (but right wing) dictatorships in Germany, Italy,
Spain and in several states of eastern Europe. That is, it was
characteristic of fascism
and totalitarianism. Following the second world war torture lived
on in the colonial wars, such as the French in Indochina and
Algeria where ex-Nazis taught the techniques to French military
police for use on Algerian independence fighters. There are reports
that the techniques were passed on to American "allies"
in central and southern America, perhaps through military training
schools in Panama operated by American secret intelligence services.
Many graduates of the military School of the Americas seized
power in their countries and were associated with torture.

Torture was then practiced by "anti-communist" forces
in El Salvador, Nicaragua,
Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay. Several Asian states are reported
to allow torture by the police and military. These include: Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India
but also several south east Asian countries. In some cases torture
is not so much a government policy as the result of neglecting
to supervise the police. However, all the remaining classic dictatorships
use it as a policy to intimidate potential opponents. These include:
Burma, China, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, North Korea.

The KGB (Security Department) of the USSR also maintained
torture schools which taught secret police forces in eastern
Europe, Yemen, Angola, Mozambique, the ANC (South Africa) and
many other countries. Some of this work was contracted to East
Germany.

Even states with a generally good record may allow torture
to arise in extreme political conditions. France during
the Algerian war, and Britain in the colonies, such as
Kenya during the Mau Mau war, and Northern Ireland are examples.
In both of these cases democratic scrutiny and international
pressure causes supervision to prevent torture becoming a habit.

United States police forces use more violence than would be
expected in a civilized country. The US has been accused of Torture
in its prison camps in Guantanamo, Cuba, and in Afghanistan,
Iraq (Abu Ghraib) and other countries.

Amnesty International is an important reporter of torture.

The Redress Trust has listed in 1994 the following countries
as having "reports of widespread and constant use of torture"
:

An active democracy is probably the only way of preventing
torture. However, it is disturbing that in western states a large
proportion of the population apparently enjoys watching videos
of torture (and the tv series "24" in which
torture is represented as a way to obtain information).

Psychological experiments have shown that many ordinary people,
even in states without routine torture, can be persuaded to torture
people. (Milgram) Thus the institutional safeguards are important.
These include Habeas Corpus by which prisoners must be shown
to a judge and not held without due process of law. Public inspection
of prisons is also important.

The signs are that any state can fall into the habit of torture
if the citizens do not watch out. Any social group which becomes
seen as inferior may be tortured informally by police or prison
guards, even in democracies. (These include: Racial or national
groups; people believed to have hostile beliefs or political
opinions; suspected terrorists).

There have been rumors that the US forces in Afghanistan,
and possibly in Guantanamo Bay where suspected Al Qaeda terrorists
are held have been torturing prisoners, apparently safe from
challenge by the US courts or the International Criminal
Court (which the US refuses to recognise).